Article of wearing apparel and method of making the same



June 12, .1928. I 673,123.

H. B. MUENCH ARTICLE OF WEARING APPAREL AND METHOP OE MAKING THE SAME Fildsept. 1. 1927 V j I rg. y

fir? 7 a INVENTOR By v ATTO 1 EV Patented June 12, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE.

HELEN B; MUENCH, F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ARTICLE OF WEARING APPAREL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed September This invent-ion relates to dresses and the method of making the same and is dlrected more particularly to dresses having full bottoms or full bottom flounces and the method whereby the same may be produced. from a minimum quantity of flat goods.

In the making of dresses having skirt portions or flounces with full bottoms, it has invariably been the practice to form the skirt portion or flounce from a plurality of gores suitably shaped to give the full effect and seamed together at their lateral edges to produce the skirt. For skirts or dresses w th very full bottoms, it has been the practice to employ a large number of gores or to make the individual gores sufficiently wide to give the full efiect desired. hen skirts are made in this manner. a large quantity of material is necessary and there is invariably an appreica-ble amount of waste in the cut-ting of the gores from the material in the running yard. For example, a dress which, would require approximately three yards of material if made in a substantially straight style may require as much as five or six yards if made in a full flowing or draped style.

This gives some idea of the amount of goods required to produce the so-called full effect. The necessity for the use of this ex tra material arises through the desire to obtain loose flowing plaits or folds which ac company the full effect and the only way that this has been done in the making of skirt portions is to increase thenumber of gores or to make the gores wider. Flounces are sometimes made by using running yard material by gathering the upper edge of the material where it is attached to the skirt, but even whenmade in this way, the linear yardage employed is appreciable and is equal substantially to the peripheral dimension of the flounce.

lVith the foregoing considerations in mind, the object of the present invention is to provide the method of cutting and manipulating goods in such manner as to obtain the full skirt or flounce effect with but a relatively small proportion of the material necessary under prior practice. I am enabled to obtain these results by the novel method of this invention and it will hereinafter become apparent that a marked saving in material results through the use of the present invention.

In practically carrying out the invention,

1,1927. Serial No. 216,870.

for example, in the making of a full flounce on a dress, I start with a flat piece of-mat-erial and. from this flat piece of material, I cuta number of blanks, two generally being suflicient. Into each blank a cut is formed, hereinafter termedthe primary out, which extends into the interior of the blank, i. e.,

to a point inwardly of the margins thereof and at the termination of the primary cut, I form either a cut out or additional secondary cuts. a

I now open up the blank and join the edges along primary cuts of the respective blanks to one another after the manner of sewing together gores of a dressand then sew the edges of the secondary cuts or cut out on to the body of the dress to attachv the fiounce to the dress. skirt in the manner specified a larger blank is employed than for a fiounce and instead of sewing the margins of the secondary cuts or cut out on to the dress, I sew said margins on to a belt or guimpe. In this way, I obtain about the upper edge of the flounce or skirt the desired circumferential dimension to join on to a belt or dress'while the whole perihphery of the. initial blank is utilized to produce circumferential dimension to the lower free edge of the fiounce or skirt portion. In other words, the dimension of the lower edge of the flounce is substantially equal to the sum of the perimeters of, the blanks which enter into its construction.

Thus a piece of material 40 inches square will produce a free peripheral edge equal to its circumference, i. e., and edge substantially 160 inches in length less asmall amount of material necessary for seams between the edges of the primary cut of such piece of the material and the corresponding edges of the companion blank. The two companion blanks of 40 inches square will thus produce a peripheral edge of 320 inches less suflicient for seams at the edges of the primary cuts. Manifestly, free edges of this extent could not possibly be obtained by cutting a similar amount of goods to form gores in sewing them together in accordance with prior practice. I

Features of the invention, other than those. adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description. and. claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. f

The accompanying drawing illustrates one manner, of practisingthe present invention.

To form a complete but these drawings are to be understood as illustrative only and not as defining the limits of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a dress provided with a flounce 'made in accordance with the present invendress.

' thereof and. terminates at the point From this point, I form supplemental cuts Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8 show different ways in which the blank may be formed to produce fl'ounces of different shapes.

I am aware that the present invention may be employed for making skirts or the entire skirt portion of the dress, but for the purpose of .illustration, I have chosen to show the manner in which the present invention is employed in the making of the flounce to be attached to a dress between the knees and the hips, as illustrated in Figure 1. In this figure, I have shown the body of the dress in dotted lines and have designated it by the reference character 1. 2 indicates the flounce associated therewith.

In carrying out this invention in the making of the flounce 2, I first lay out a piece of material '3 in flat condition as shown in Figure 2 and by the use of a suitable pattern mark this material as shown in dotted lines; Having removed the pattern, the material is now out along the line 4 to divide the piece of goods 3 into two sections, each of which constitutes a blank. After the blanks have been. out from one another, the corners are cut off alongthe lines 5 to prod'ucetwo identical blanks, one'of which is shown in Figure 3. I next form a primary out along line 6. This line extends into the body of the blank from the periphery 8 and 9. After cutting as stated, the blanks are opened up, as shown in Figure 4,.and it will be there noted that inasmuch as the cuts 8 and 9 cross one another in perpendicular relation, the upper edges of the flounce sections shown in Figure 4 will be serrated. In other words, those portions designated 10, 11, 12 and 13 of each blank, as shown in Figure 3, will form the points correspondingly designated in Figure 4.

The edges formed by the primary'cut 6 in Figure 3 are designated 14 and 15 in Figure 4. The next operation consists in uniting the edge 14 of the sections of Fig ure 4 to thecorrespondingedges 15 of said sections so as to form a circular flounce.

ways in which the invention may This is accomplished in substantially the same manner as joining the gores of the skirt. The upper edge of the resulting flounce, i. e., the pointed edge thereof, is now sewed to the body of the dress 1 along the lines .16 and lines of stitc-hing'designated 17 in Figure 1 by means of which the fiounce is attached to the dress. The pointed upper edges of the flounce may in the course of this operation be turned under so that these edges will be finished. The lower or free edge of the flounce may, moreover, be finished in any suitable manner as by applying a binding or forming a hem thereon or felling the seam.

It will be'particularly noted from Figure 4 that when the blank is opened up as hereinbefore described, there will be a gathering of the peripheral portion of theiblank into loose folds which produces a draped effect so desirable in full dresses. possible of attainment by the use of gores under prior" practice, but obviously a much greater increased quantity of goods is necessary to producethe effect with gores than is required to produce thesarne effect under the method of this invention. Furthermore, the formation of the flounce as described requires a minimum amount of labor and entails but a small. portion of the time which would be required to produce substantially the same effect with gores.

I have hereinbefore referred to the cutting off of the corners of the blanks along the lines 5. If desired, however, thesecorners may be left on in which event the flounce will have pronounced points along its bottom edge. If a perfectly straight bottom is desired, the blank may be out circular as shown by the line 18 in Figure 5, for example, with the cross cuts at the center as in Figure 3 or with the sectional cut or'opening made along the line 19in Figure 5.

If the center of the blank is cut out as at 19 in Figure 5, no points will appear at the top of the flounce, but the flounce will join the body of the dress in a straight line. The straight line effect may be also obtained by cutting out the center of the blank as shown at20 in Figures 6 leaving the corners of-the blankundercut as shown in the figure or cut off as previously stated. Furthermore, the primary cut 6 need not be made from one fiat side of the blank, but may be made from one corner thereof shown in Figure 7 and the sectional cross cuts 8 and. 9 need not be positioned in the center of the blank but may be positioned off center as shown in Figure 8. These various modifications are optional and are illustrated merely to show the different be carried out without departing therefrom.

Ihave hereinbefore described the manner in which a flounce may be made in accordance with this invention. It will be apparent, however, that a whole skirt might be constructed in a similar way, the only difference being that instead of sewing the upper edge of the flounce portion to the body of a dress, the flounce would be made deeper and the upper edge sewed directly to a belt or to a guimpe of suitable form. This and other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and for this reason, the invention is not limited to the exact details shown, but is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. The herein described method of making a skirt or part thereof which consists in forming a plurality of flat blanks of material of the desired peripheral contour, then making a primary cut extending from the periphery of each blank into the body thereof. then forming at least one secondary cut in the body of each blank at the inner end of the primary cut, then opening up said blanks and uniting the edges formed by the primary cut of each blank to the corresponding edges of another blank to form a circular skirt portion, and thereafter uniting the margins of the sectional cuts of the several blanks to suitable means whereby the circular skirt portion may be supported on v the body of a wearer.

2. The herein described method of making a skirt or part thereof which consists in forming a plurality of flat blanks of material of the desired peripheral contour, thereafter making primaryand secondary cuts, the former of which extends from the periphery of the blank into the body thereof and the latter of which is formed in substantially the central portion of the blank and connects with the primary out, then opening up said blanks and uniting the edges formed by the primary cut of each blank to the corresponding edges of another blank to form a circular skirt portion, and thereafter uniting the margins of the scondary cuts of the several blanks to suitable means whereby the circular skirt portion may be supported on the body of a wearer.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an annular structure constituting a skirt or part thereof and embodying a plurality of circumferential sections, each of which is formed from the flat blank of material having a primary cut extending inwardly from its outer marginal edge, and a secondary cut positioned substantially centrally of the blank, said blanks being united to one another at the edges of their primary cuts to form the annular structure, one circumferential edge of which is substantially equal to the aggregate perimeters of said outer marginal edges of the several blanks comprising the structure.

positioned substantially centrally of the blank, said blanks being united to one another at the edges of their primary cuts to form the annular structure, one circumferential edge of which is substantially equal to the aggregate perimeters of said outer marginal edges of the several blanks comprising the structure, and the dimension of the other circumferential edge of the structure being substantially equal to the aggregate dimensions of the edges of the secondary cuts of the several blanks.

In a dress, a body portion, in combination with a skirt portion embodying a plurality of circumferential sections, each of which is formed from a flat blank of mate rial having a primary cut extending inwardly from the outer marginal edge of the blank, and a secondary cut positioned substantially centrally of the blank, said blanks being united to one another at the edges of their primary cuts to form an annular skirt portion, the lower edge of the skirt portion being substantially equal to the aggregate perimeters of the saidout-er marginal edges of the several blanks, and means for securing the upper edge of the skirt portion to the body portion of the dress.

6. In a dress, a body portion, in combination with a skirt portion embodying a plurality of circumferential sections, each of which is formed from a flat blank of material having a primary out extending inwardly from the outer marginal edge of the blank, and a secondary cut positioned substantially centrally of the blank, said blanks being united to one another at the edges of their primary cuts to form an annular skirt portion, the lower edge of the skirt portion being substantially equal to the aggregate perimeters of the said outer marginal edges of the several blanks, and the upper edgeof the skirt portion being substantiallyequal in dimension to the aggregate dimensions of the edges of the secondary cuts of the several blanks, and means for securing the upper edge of the skirt portion to the body portion of the dress.

In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing specification.

HELEN B. MUENCH. I 

